Yu Jin Sung of Korea. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
In her third appearance as a Tour member, Grace Kim, a rookie from Australia, secured her first LPGA Tour title by sinking a challenging five-foot birdie putt during the playoff at the LOTTE Championship presented by Hoakalei.
The 22-year-old Epson Tour graduate carded a final round 68 to finish regulation play tied on 12-under-par with Korea’s Yu Jin Sung and China’s Yu Liu, who surged up the standings with a superb bogey-free 64 at Hoakalei Country Club.
Starting the last round one shot back of Sung, Kim birdied her last two holes to force the three-way playoff with the Korean and Liu, who had earlier taken the clubhouse lead on 12-under-par.
Yu Liu of China. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
Playing the par-five 18th again, all three players went for the green in two with Liu hitting hers long and left, Sung coming up short and left, and Kim pushing her approach right to sit pin-high. Liu’s third came up well short before Sung blasted her third over the green and nearly in the penalty area, giving the advantage to Kim.
Kim nearly holed her chip shot and buried the birdie putt, giving Australia its first LPGA Tour winner since Minjee Lee won last year’s U.S. Women’s Open.
“I definitely wanted to have a good go at it knowing that the green wasn’t the best angle in from where we were. I would have to admit that I wasn’t planning to go that aggressive. I did push it right,” said Kim.
“I got lucky. Definitely aimed at the pin for a little kind of play for landing in between the bunker and hopefully does something miraculous. But I guess you can make birdies in other ways. So, a different way of miraculous happened.”
Kim is the 12th player from Australia to win on the LPGA Tour, joining her idol Karrie Webb, someone who has been instrumental to her young career. Though she didn’t chat with her before the final round, Kim said she could feel Webb’s presence as she was making her way down the stretch and feels honoured to be among the list of Australian LPGA champions.
“I think it really just puts the cherry on top of my career,” she said. “I know it’s just the beginning, but seeing how much they really motivated me to get here, yeah, it’s really exciting.”
The win earned Kim a spot in this week’s Chevron Championship, the first Major of the 2023 LPGA season. “Very excited. I actually didn’t register until Superstition week because I thought I had no chance of getting into Chevron. Hearing other people saying that they could get a chance, I was like, oh, yeah, you know what? I’ll just enter. Just topped it off today. Very excited.”
